Much has been said and written about the potential exit of the mercurial Diego Costa and the identity of the successor to the Brazil-born Spaniard. Chelsea spent most of last summer chasing Alvaro Morata, only for Real Madrid to buy him back from Juventus and then refuse to sell him. There were also rumours about Romelu Lukaku being the fall-back option, in case the Morata chase came to nothing. After a protracted transfer saga of will-he-won’t-he, Chelsea ended up with a senior strike force of Costa and Lukaku’s Belgian compatriot, Michy Batshuayi, which left many feeling uneasy about the Blues’ prospects. Thankfully, Costa spent more time making life miserable for defenders rather than his own team, which allowed Michy plenty of opportunities to own Twitter with his razor-sharp wit. But like every summer, there are rumblings about Costa wishing to leave and Chelsea are once again in pursuit of Lukaku this summer.
Now, Big Rom is a player who divides opinion like no other. Half of the Chelsea supporters wouldn’t touch him with a 10-foot pole and the other half would pay to hire a helicopter (Lukacopter?) to bring him back “home”. Of course, lest we forget, Lukaku was brought to Chelsea as a wide-eyed 18-year-old in 2011. At that time, Chelsea were well-stocked in the striker department, despite the presence of one Fernando Torres. This left Lukaku with only a handful of minutes to play throughout the season. In the next two seasons, the Belgian had two hugely successful spells on loan at West Bromwich Albion and Everton. The youngster had proved himself capable enough to play in the Premier League and yet, Jose Mourinho found no use for him. Consequently, Everton broke their transfer record to sign him permanently for £28 million.
At Everton, Lukaku continued to do what he does best – score goals by the bucketload. By the end of the 2016-17 season, he’d scored 70 goals in just 145 games for Everton. That’s a goal every two games! And yet, a lot of people continue to doubt his quality and his suitability for Chelsea. So today, I’ll list out a few points that should tip the scales in favour of the prodigal son returning home.
Goals
Romelu Lukaku is 24-years-old. He has scored 145 goals in his career. With a supposed first-touch that results in a goal-kick almost every time, that is phenomenal. Looking at these statistics, it’s clear as day that this boy scores goals. His detractors may say that he is a flat-track bully, but aren’t all strikers? Come on, no one gets to 20 goals in a season just by scoring against the big boys. It’s the ability to finish off teams below the European places that won the title for Chelsea this season, so let’s not discount a player who has an enviable record against the likes of those. Besides, if you want to see him do it against top level opposition, you need to provide him with top-level support. You don’t buy a Ferrari and run it on bicycle tires.
Homegrown
Yes, the big Belgian counts as a homegrown player under the Premier League rules. You don’t get a homegrown player of his caliber in this day and age, unless he is English and overpriced. And Harry Kane is not moving from Spurs to Chelsea anytime soon.
Don’t Luk back In Anger
Lukaku was never trusted by Mourinho, who had similar misgivings about another Belgian. But let’s not bring Kevin De Bruyne into this. Instead, let’s focus on the big guy who was overlooked at Chelsea in favour of a misfiring Torres, an aging Samuel Eto’o, and a forever-falling-over Demba Ba. Since then, he has gone on to prove just how wrong Chelsea were to give up on him so easily and has reportedly told friends that he has unfinished business at Stamford Bridge. As they say, the greatest pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do.
Riding The Crest
Didier Drogba was a slow burner who went on to do great things at Chelsea. Lukaku, who idolizes the Ivorian, started at a much younger age and has reached a much higher level than Drogba did at 24. If his peak years were to be spent in the Chelsea blue, Lukaku could write himself into the Chelsea folklore. Romelu Lukaku at 27 years of age, with an elite support cast around him, would be a frightening prospect for any team on the planet.
Blue Eyed Boy
He is a boyhood Chelsea fan, which made his departure even more difficult to digest for me. In this age of mercenaries and superstars looking for a payday, a high-quality player who would bleed for the shirt is not something to be sniffed at. Besides, it would really wind up Spurs if we were to steal their ‘He’s one of our own’ chant. Makes it worth the transfer fee itself, doesn’t it?
So, in conclusion, let’s not pass up on the opportunity to buy one of the best strikers in Europe. He’s bigger than a fridge, bring him back to Stamford Bridge!
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